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The recipe of the month by Eugenia Abbate

LASAGNE ALLA PORTOFINO

Ingredients:

Boil water in a capable pot. To boil, add salt and dip 6 or 7 sheets at a time. Cook for about a minute, then drain and immerse in cold water to stop cooking. Roll out the sheets on very clean rags.

For Pesto:

40 g of Sardinian pecorino

80 g of Parmigiano Reggiano

20 g of pine nuts

1 clove of garlic

160 g of basil leaves

extra virgin olive oil

coarse sea salt

Tradition would like to use the marble mortar and the boxwood pestle but I find it more convenient to use the food processor. What, in my opinion, makes the difference to get a good pesto, is the quality of the basil, which must be small leaves and come, possibly, from Pra '(Genoa). Using the thick-leaved basil I often saw the pesto blacken early.
Put the pieces of pecorino and parmesan cheese, peeled garlic and pine nuts in the food processor. Whisk for about ten seconds, at high speed, in order to obtain a rather fine mince. Combine a handful of basil leaves, clean with a dampened cloth, and a few grains of coarse salt and continue to whisk in pulses, gradually adding the rest of the basil leaves. Extract this green paste from the container, pour it into a porcelain bowl and add, in flush, as much extra-virgin olive oil as needed to have a fluid sauce.

For the béchamel sauce:

50g of 00 flour

50g of butter

1300ml of fresh whole milk

a nice pinch of salt up

a grated nutmeg

METHOD

For pesto:
Tradition would like to use the marble mortar and the boxwood pestle but I find it more convenient to use the food processor. What, in my opinion, makes the difference to get a good pesto, is the quality of the basil, which must be small leaves and come, possibly, from Pra '(Genoa). Using the thick-leaved basil I often saw the pesto blacken early.
Put the pieces of pecorino and parmesan cheese, peeled garlic and pine nuts in the food processor. Whisk for about ten seconds, at high speed, in order to obtain a rather fine mince. Combine a handful of basil leaves, clean with a dampened cloth, and a few grains of coarse salt and continue to whisk in pulses, gradually adding the rest of the basil leaves. Extract this green paste from the container, pour it into a porcelain bowl and add, in flush, as much extra-virgin olive oil as needed to have a fluid sauce.

For béchamel sauce:
In a saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour and let it intercrate well in the butter, cooking for about 2 minutes, over low heat. Add the milk a little at a time, stirring with a whisk. Bring to a boil and cook the sauce 2 or 3 minutes. Salt towards the end. Perfume with grated nutmeg.

Assembly of lasagne:
Grease a baking dish generously. Spread a ladle of béchamel on the bottom. Cover with some sheets of pasta. Put another ladle of béchamel and a ladle of pesto, distributing it with a spoon over the entire surface. Continue like this until the ingredients run out (about 6 layers should be obtained). Finish with a sprinkling of grated Parmesan and a few pieces of butter.
Bake the lasagna in a hot oven at 180 degrees C for about 30 minutes. When cooked, remove from the oven and let the pasta rest for 5 minutes before serving.

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